Selena Gomez: Social media has been 'terrible for my generation'

Selena Gomez has declared that social media is “dangerous” for her generation and encouraged youngsters to impose time limits on themselves.

The Come & Get It hitmaker, who was once the most-followed person on Instagram before being overtaken by soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo last year, spoke out about the dangers of social media during a press conference for her new movie The Dead Don’t Die, in which she plays a Wi-Fi-obsessed hipster, at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

“Social media has really been terrible for my generation,” she said. “I understand that it’s amazing to use as your platform but it does scare me when you see how exposed these young girls and young boys are and they’re not really aware of the news or anything going on.

“It’s a very — I don’t want to say selfish because that feels rude — I think it’s dangerous, for sure, I don’t think people are getting the right information sometimes.”

The 26-year-old, who has taken lengthy breaks from social media in the past, explained that while she posts pictures for her 150 million Instagram followers, she is purposeful about what she shares.

“I think it’s pretty impossible to make it safe at this point,” she continued. “I’m grateful I have the platform. I don’t do a lot of pointless pictures. For me, I like to be intentional with it. It just scares me. I’ll see these young girls at meet and greets. They are devastated, dealing with bullying and not being able to have their own voice. It can be great in moments. I would be careful and allow yourself some time limits of when you should use it.”

Jim Jarmusch’s new zombie horror-comedy opened the 2019 Cannes Film Festival in France on Tuesday, and Gomez hit the red carpet alongside co-stars Adam Driver, Bill Murray, and Tilda Swinton.

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